URUMQI: As part of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing which ends today, foreign media delegations have been taken on a tour of major cities in this region of China to demonstrate their integral role in the initiative.
Over 30 international press representatives from Turkey, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Finland, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are attending the nine-day tour.
Dubbed “Approaching of Core Zone (Xinjiang) of the Silk Road Economic Belt”, the media familiarisation event was also attended by local Chinese reporters.
Today, the group was split into two – one headed south to visit Aksu, 1,000km from here; and another travelled to Yining, 700km from here – to get a better understanding of the autonomous region.
Beijing's state council information office director Li Xiaojun, who hosted the delegation and expressed satisfaction with the Urumqi leg of the tour which ended yesterday, said he hopes the media from various related nations will be able to promote the new Silk Road initiative.
He said the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which borders eight countries (Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India), was a major post along the ancient Silk Road, and is expected to play an important role in the new one.
"The infrastructure in Xinjiang is, I would say, at the middle level. It is still developing and there is room to improve, but we will see this grow along with the realisation of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative.
"At the same time, new nations (not traditionally a part of the ancient Silk Road) in Asean are being added to the Maritime Silk Road. Existing connectivity with countries like Malaysia will be further accelerated with the OBOR," he said.
The media groups will spend four days at the two separate locations, before the familiarisation event ends on Thursday.
Malaysia has been supportive of the OBOR initiative, a vision conceptualised by Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in 2013.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who attended the two-day forum in Beijing, had previously stated that the Belt and Road initiative is a game-changer for infrastructure projects and that Malaysia welcomes investments from countries around the world, including China.
Reaching from east to west, the initiative aims to integrate the economies of Europe, Asia and Africa through a powerful network of connectivity and transport infrastructure.